Ann's Mega Dub

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

How many lies will Hillary get caught telling?

Don't you love Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Hillary's Reaction To Losing West Virginia To Bernie"?

It really seems to capture Hillary accurately.

She loses and then has her little hissy fit.

Julian Hattem (The Hill) reports:

The head of the FBI on Wednesday appeared to challenge Hillary Clinton’s characterization of the federal investigation into her private email server.
Clinton and her allies have repeatedly called the probe a routine “security inquiry.”

But Director James Comey told reporters that wasn’t an accurate description."It's in our name. I'm not familiar with the term 'security inquiry,' " Comey said at a roundtable with reporters, according to Politico.

“We’re conducting an investigation ... That’s what we do,” he said, according to Fox News.

She's such a liar.

Such a damn liar.

And the whole thing about Cheryl Mills walking out of an FBI questioning because they were asking questions that she hadn't agreed to answer?

I'm sorry if you're running for president, you and everyone working under you answers any and all questions in a federal investigation.

Especially when you (Hillary) are saying publicly that you want everyone to cooperate.

Then cooperate.

Stop trying to weasel out of full cooperation.

This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Chaos and violence continue, the deadliest bombings in Iraq for 2016 so far take place today, Nancy A. Youssef uses the term "ethnic cleansing," War Hawk Down in West Virginia as Hillary Clinton loses another primary to Bernie Sanders, and much more.

Bombings slammed Iraq today. Jane Onyanga-Omara (USA TODAY) reports, "Three different car bombings in Baghdad Wednesday killed at least 93 people and wounded upwards of 165 in one of the deadliest days in Iraq this year, according to media reports." Jomana Karadsheh, Joshua Berlinger and Ashley Fantz (CNN) explain, "The Sunni terror group ISIS says it's behind a series of attacks in Iraq's capital Wednesday [. . .]" AL MADA notes they're the deadliest bombings in Iraq so far this year. GULF DIGITAL NEWS includes the reactions of some Iraqis:

"The state is in a conflict over (government positions) and the people are the victims," said a man named Abu Ali. "The politicians are behind the explosion."

Abu Muntadhar echoed his anger. "The state is responsible for the bombings that hit civilians," the local resident said. The politicians "should all get out".

Ban Ki-Moon is the Secretary-General of the United Nations. His Special Representative for Iraq, Jan Kubis, stated:

These are cowardly terrorist attacks on civilians who have done nothing but going about their normal daily lives. Such acts of terrorist violence are certainly against all the principles of decency and humanity, and as such must be strongly condemned. I call on the authorities to do their utmost to quickly bring the perpetrators to justice, and express my deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and wish the injured a speedy recovery.

Human Rights Watch's Joe Stork declared, "Once again ISIS has carried out a devastating attack designed to inflict maximum death and suffering on ordinary Iraqis. The presence of some militia – even if true – cannot possibly justify this latest ISIS atrocity." NATIONAL IRAQI NEWS AGENCY adds that Iraqiya leader Ayad Allawi condemned the bombings-- including the one in Baquba -- as terrorist actions.

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The bombings?

First, BBC News notes, "A car bomb at a crowded Baghdad market has killed at least 64 people, officials say, in one of the worst recent attacks in the Iraqi capital." Sinan Salaheddin (AP) describes the scene, "The street was stained red with blood in many places and the facades of several buildings were heavily damaged. Smoke billowed from ground-level stores which had been gutted out by the explosion."

Mustafa Al-Khaqani ‏@Khaqani_M 5 hours ago

More images from Sadr City bombings in Baghdad. Conflicting reports on number of martyrs. #Iraq

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The bombing took place in the Sadr City section of Baghad -- also known as "slum" by some outlets. It's where Shi'ite cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr's Baghdad followers live -- in squalor. XINHUA reports that, in addition to the 64 dead, there are at least 87 people who have been left injured. The already alarming death toll could rise further depending on how severe some of the injuries are.

‏@Khaqani_M

Iraqis gather to donate blood for the wounded following the wave of deadly bombings that swept across Baghdad. #Iraq 

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ITV adds, "The second exploded at the entrance to Baghdad's Kadhimiya district, killing at least 15."

Third, Kareem Raheem and Ahmed Rasheed (REUTERS) report, "Another bomb went off at a checkpoint on a commercial thoroughfare in a predominantly Sunni district of western Baghdad, killing eight and wounding 20."

‏@Khaqani_M

Locals light candles at the scene of the bombing that took place in Sadr City, Baghdad. #Iraq 

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‏@jenanmoussa

The amount of daily killings in #Iraq is staggering. Sadly only few care, majority can't be bothered.  

CBS NEWS notes the climate the bombing took place in, "But CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata reported the tension that erupted in the Green Zone had been building for months; simmering anger at the government over charges of corruption and criticism that they appear unable to stop ISIS from carrying out terror attacks in the capital city and elsewhere." Jomana Karadsheh, Joshua Berlinger and Ashley Fantz (CNN) add, "Experts have said that a security vacuum has opened in Iraq amid the political turmoil the nation has been facing lately. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi struggles to firm up a government capable of battling ISIS and, at the same time, continue to address problems related to Iraq's long-standing economic and political wounds from years of war. "

NATIONAL IRAQI NEWS AGENCY reports MP Samira al-Moussawi has called for Parliament to deliver a vote of no confidence on Haider al-Abadi. Should such a vote take place and the Parliament withdrew confidence, it would trigger immediate elections. She noted his failures including his failure to resolve the political issues and she declared he was now part of the political crisis in Iraq. Samira herself is a petroleum engineer and has Chaired Parliament's Women, Children and Families' Committee in Parliament.

She is not the first MP to call for Haider to step down. Mustafa Saadoun (Al-Monitor) noted:

On March 2, Hanan al-Fatlawi, member of parliament (MP) and head of the Irada block -- and independent block that has no governmental position and only one parliamentary seat -- demanded that Abadi, her former colleague in the State of Law coalition, should either resign from his position as head of the government or declare a state of emergency and ask the parliament to vote on it.
She noted in a press statement, "Abadi came up with the ministerial change to distract the Iraqi street and waste time until the end of the current election round. The current ministers in the Iraqi government are not working seriously, and the ministries are almost paralyzed because of the anticipated ministerial change sought by Abadi."

Earlier this week, Baquba was the site of a bombing. RUDAW reported, "A car bomb in the town of Baquba in Diyala province killed 12 and wounded 40 others on Monday evening."

ALL IRAQ NEWS notes Haider met with his security heads to discuss today's bombings.

Nancy A. Youssef (DAILY BEAST) reports:

The carnage not only shocked the capital, but also raised questions about whether Iraqi security forces are capable of reclaiming Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, which has been occupied for almost two years by the self-proclaimed Islamic State.

One obvious question is how Iraqi security forces can retake and secure Mosul if they cannot protect Baghdad from three suicide bombings in a matter of hours. But the picture is more complicated, and indeed, more problematic even than that.

The bombings targeted Shia neighborhoods in what appears to be part of the continuing ISIS effort to provoke a frenzy of ethnic cleansing similar to that of a decade ago. As one U.S. official immersed in the anti-ISIS war puts it, “Sunnis see ISIS as their protection—their wall against Shia revenge.”

Do me a favor and read that excerpt again.

Okay?

Notice it?

"Ethnic cleansing"?

We called it that in real time here.

Nancy didn't.

Writing for MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS, she wasn't allowed use the term. It's seldom noted -- except by us -- but Nancy, writing for KNIGHT RIDDER on the last day it existed (MCCLATCHY bought it out and slapped their name on it), broke the story that the US military was, in fact, keeping a count of the number of Iraqis killed -- something the White House had denied.

At KNIGHT RIDDER, she could break news and write truthfully.

MCCLATCHY was for more restrictive.

Hopefully, DAILY BEAST will continue to be less restrictive.

It was ethnic cleansing.

She's wrong about it "restarting."

It's already in Iraq and we've named it here.

The Shi'ite militias are targeting the Sunni civilians -- not the Islamic State, but Sunni civilians.

‏@moonnor27

Iraqi Sunni civilian burned , tortured and killed by shia militias in #IRAQ  #warcrimes  oh my God

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7:21 AM - 8 May 2016

#IRAQ شمرية العراق ‏@moonnor27 14 hours ago

shia militias crimes نداء استغاثة من الفلوجة اجساد العوائل السنيه بدئت تنهار جوعا الحشد الشيعي يمنع عنهم الغذاء

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#IRAQ شمرية العراق ‏@moonnor27 May 10

Shia militias crimes عاجل مليشات الشيعه تحرق قرية نوفل السنيه بديالى وتختطف ابنائهم والعوائل تستغيث اين الاعلام

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On Mosul, Martin Chulov (GUARDIAN) reports:

For a few days early last month, the offensive looked like it already might be under way. But that soon changed when the Iraqis, trained by US forces, were quickly ousted from al-Nasr, the first town they had seized. There were about 25 more small towns and villages, all occupied by Isis, between them and Mosul. And 60 miles to go.
Behind the Iraqis, the Kurdish peshmerga remained dug into positions near the city of Makhmour that had marked the frontline since not long after Mosul was seized in June 2014. The war had been theirs until the national army arrived. The new partnership is not going well.
On both sides, there is a belief that what happens on the road to Mosul will not only define the course of the war but also shape the future of Iraq. And, despite the high stakes, planning for how to take things from here is increasingly clouded by suspicion and enmity.

There were other bombs in Iraq today -- including the ones dropped by US war planes. The US Defense Dept issued the following:

Strikes in Iraq
Fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted nine strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Baghdadi, two strikes struck an ISIL beddown location and destroyed an ISIL mortar position.

-- Near Rutbah, a strike produced inconclusive results.

-- Near Fallujah, two strikes destroyed an ISIL vehicle bomb, two ISIL tunnel systems and an ISIL weapons cache.

-- Near Kisik, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL assembly area.

-- Near Mosul, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.

-- Near Sinjar, a strike destroyed an ISIL bulldozer.

-- Near Tal Afar, a strike destroyed an ISIL excavator.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.

Staying with deadly US actions, noted War Hawk Hillary Clinton is running for president. Unable to run on her record -- it doesn't exist other than support for bombing countries -- she's running on her husband's record and her own gender.

It doesn't always work.

Like yesterday when West Virginia held their primary.

Hillary ended up losing yet another primary to Senator Bernie Sanders.

‏@BernieSanders

Not only do we get a lot of the Democratic votes, we get a lot of the Independent votes. Our campaign is best suited to beat Donald Trump.

2,129 retweets5,982 likes

‏@BernieSanders

Thank you to the people of West Virginia for the tremendous victory they gave us today.

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the guardian
martin chulov

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

The Good Wife says goodbye

Okay, we did a roundtable at Third:

THE GOOD WIFE Roundtable

Ty: THE GOOD WIFE aired it's final episode on CBS tonight, Sunday night. We're doing a roundtable on the show and what it meant -- if anything. Participating in our roundtable are The Third Estate Sunday Review's me, Ty; Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude; Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man; Ruth of Ruth's Report; Trina of Trina's Kitchen; Wally of The Daily Jot; Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ; Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends; and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub. You are reading a rush transcript.

Ty (Con't): Marcia, you want to do the overview?

Marcia: Sure. In the fall of 2009, this hour long show starring Julianna Margulies began airing. As it completes its seventh season, it completes its run. The show revolved around Alicia who was married to Peter Florrick -- played by Chris North -- who was a politician caught having an affair. Does she stand by her husband? Does she have her own identity? Is there any reason to care about her?

Ty: And was there? Ruth?

Ruth: For a few seasons, yes. For a few. But she became insufferable. And Ms. Margulies off camera difficulty with Emmy winner Archie Panjabi who played Kalinda went a long way towards destroying any good will she had with audiences.

Ann: Well Kalina was a person of color in an all White cast. And when she was sidelined, that really hurt the series. When she was then fired, that hurt the show more. When it was learned that the White Princess Margulies would not even film a scene with her at the bar -- it had to be shot with them on the set at different times -- that really screamed White entitlement.

Ty: Stan, you were blogging about the show weekly and stepped away around this time.

Stan: Yes, I did. This was a show made by 'well meaning liberals.' And yet, as Ann pointed out, the regular cast was all White except for Archie Panjabi. And she was hugely popular. The actress was wonderful in the role. But there was so much racism. Most obviously in the use of an actor to play a drug lord -- an African-American male. They can't make an African-American male a regular lawyer on the show but they can make him a drug lord. Time and again, well meaning intentions were betrayed by unacknowledged racism.

Rebecca: Which really came to bear on Kalinda -- Archie Panjabi's character. Talk about that, Stan.

Stan: The show runners turned on Kalinda. They came up with this 'great' story. They just knew it was groundbreaking. Kalinda's husband returns. And she is sexually attracted to him when -- pay attention here -- he beats her.

Rebecca: She was in an abusive relationship where her husband beat her and she escaped that. Now he returns and she's supposed to be turned on by his violence against her.

Ann: It was disgusting.

Stan: And again, racist. The only person of color in the regular cast is the one who wants to be beaten, who gets horny from being beaten. Not "the good wife," but the person of color. It was disgusting and went a long way towards explaining what show runners Robert King and Michelle King really thought of people of color. They're the exotic 'other,' the savages turned on by violence. It was so insulting and so racist.

Rebecca: And the response? The audience was outraged, rightly. But the Kings didn't acknowledge their mistake. They had a hissy fit and punished Kalinda fans by sidelining her.

Marcia: I am so appalled that this show was so widely praised and that there was so little effort to criticize it for its awful portrayals of race. I also felt it was the biggest waste of time ever. In the end, what was Alicia? Old and wrinkled. Still pathetic. She'd given up her chance with Jason. She was still pathetic. More wrinkles and still pathetic.

Betty: And the wig. The Good Wig. How can we not talk about that?

Ty: Go ahead.

Betty: People were praising Margulies as Becky Good Hair and then, around season five, Margulies reveals she's worn a wig in every episode.

Ann: And it was a bad wig in the final season.

Betty: It was. It was so bad.

Trina: I hated Diane Lockhart. Christine Baranski is a one note actress who throws every line into the roof of her mouth. I couldn't stand her. She betrayed Alicia repeatedly. And in the end, her last scene with Alicia? Their last scene together is Diane slapping Alicia and Alicia taking it. What a pathetic embarrassment Alica Florrick was. Diane hated her from day one, felt she was only there because Will GArdner had the hots for her and, once Will died, Diane was still working against Alicia unless she felt she could use her. Alicia was pathetic.

Ann: I can't stand Diane and I can't stand the actress that played her. I hate her on BIG BANG THEORY, I hate her on everything.

Ty: Other than Kalinda, what characters did you like on the show?

Ruth: Eli. Eli was a good character. Usually not very sympathetic. Always felt he was supposed to be Rahm Emanuel. But he was an interesting character. And Alan Cumming did a great job playing the part.

Wally: I'd agree. Other than Archia Panjabi's Kalinda, my favorite was Matt Czuchry's Cary. Cary was a really important character and the failure of the show to grasp that -- repeatedly -- was embarrassing.

Stan: Like when they had him on trial. That was just nonsense.

Ty: What about the kids -- Alicia and Peter had two children -- Zach and Grace.

Stan: The show lost its way repeatedly. That was especially clear in the last three episodes. Zach, in college, has fallen in love and plans to marry. He's going to move to Paris with her and Alicia has a fit insisting that with Peter on trial -- again! -- Zach has to put his life on hold. But in the final episode tonight, she has a fit when Grace postpones moving to California because her dad's on trial. It made no sense at all.

Ty: The show had a lot of guest stars. Anyone especially stand out?

Betty: Martha Plimpton. She played Patti Nyholm and she was wonderful.

Ty: She won an Emmy for the role.

Wally: And deserved it. I also liked Parker Posey as Eli's ex-wife Vanessa. And of course, the Vanessa.

Betty: Vanessa Williams. She had a small role in season seven as Courtney Paige and I was really pissed that there was no effort for her and Eli to have a final scene.

Stan: And Vanessa was wonderful in that role but that's what they did with people of color -- bring them on for a few episodes and then disappear them. And we only got them because some of us were brave enough to call out the never ending Whiteness of this show.

Ty: So the show finally ended tonight. What did you think?

Trina: Again, not impressed. Alicia was actually more pathetic than when the show started and getting slapped by Diane and being left alone?

Wally: It really was disappointing.

Rebecca: I'd argue the show should have been called THE GOOD DOOR MAT and should have ended when Will died.

Ty: But he was on the last episode in flashbacks and fantasy scenes.

Betty: Which was the biggest waste of time. Will's dead, why did he get so much air time. It also drove home who wasn't there: Kalinda.

Marcia: I thought the show as overhyped but often entertaining. This episode was just nonsense. Peter resigns as governor, goes on one year probation, Alicia chooses Jason too late and he's gone and she gets slapped. What's the point?

Wally: I kept waiting for them to rally in the court room with some way of proving Peter innocent. I really wanted that because that would have allowed Alicia to stop worrying about Peter and focus on building a life with Jason.

Ruth: And that is true and it is true that Kalinda was also lost and forgotten but Eli was on the episode and he had what, one scene? After all the importance he has had on the show, that is all the time they gave him? They should have brought Vanessa Williams back on, like we were saying earlier, to give Eli a happy ending. But no one got a happy ending. Certainly not the audience.

Ann: It really was a screw you ending. A big screw you to the audience.

Rebecca: It was a potboiler that lost the ability to keep things boiling. The show went out as an embarrassment.

Ty: And that's it. Unless, two years from now, when Margulies can't find another role, CBS decides to do series of TV movies. But that's it, that's our verdict on THE GOOD WIFE.

I enjoyed participating and I hope you enjoyed the discussion.

Be sure to read Ava and C.I.'s "TV: Ain't No Party On The Screen" -- which is critical and funny.

This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Monday, May 9, 2016. Chaos and violence continue, the Iraq Inquiry gets a publication date, a Hillary whore self-disgraces in public, the selling of the Iran deal demonstrates nothing has changed since the selling of the Iraq War, and much more.

Today, the US Defense Dept announced:

Strikes in Iraq
Attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 16 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Baghdadi, a strike destroyed an ISIL bunker.

-- Near Albu Hayat, a strike destroyed an ISIL weapons cache and an ISIL fuel cache.

-- Near Beiji, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Fallujah, five strikes struck five separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed four ISIL fighting positions, three ISIL weapons caches, 20 ISIL rockets, six ISIL rocket rails, an ISIL recoilless rifle, an ISIL vehicle bomb, an ISIL artillery piece, an ISIL vehicle, an ISIL staging area and an ISIL front-end loader.

-- Near Habbaniyah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Hit, a strike destroyed an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Kisik, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL assembly area and an ISIL tunnel.

-- Near Mosul, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit, destroying four ISIL rockets, six ISIL rocket rails and an ISIL vehicle and suppressing an ISIL mortar position.

-- Near Sultan Abdallah, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL assembly area and an ISIL mortar position.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.

Those bombings took place as Liz Sly (WASHINGTON POST) reports:

In an attempt to ramp up the tempo of the war, the U.S. military is escalating its engagement, dispatching an additional 450 Special Operations forces and other troops to Syria and Iraq, deploying hundreds of Marines close to the front lines in Iraq and bringing Apache attack helicopters and B-52s into service for the air campaign.
The extra resources are an acknowledgment, U.S. officials say, that the war can’t be won without a greater level of American involvement.

The Iraq War has not ended.

Whores started it and whores continue it.

And whores actually make the news for their whoring today.

First up, too old to be a himbo, John Aravosis. By his own account, he failed as a blogger. He bid it farewell in a post most noted for the use of "I" and "me" -- in fact it may have set a record for the number of times those two words appeared in a blog post. He was off now, he insisted, for a new road, a new career with the United Nations.

He wasn't successful there either.

So now he's returned to blogging.

And he's whoring for Hillary because he's just that trashy.

And to whore for Hillary who voted for the Iraq War in 2002 and publicly championed it for years afterwards and only came out against the surge -- as former US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates revealed in DUTY -- because she thought it would look good for her politically, to help vanish Hillary's huge Iraq problem, John Aravosis decided to Tweet that he didn't even remember where he stood in 2003 on the Iraq War.

As Ben Norton (SALON) details, that whorish lie was greeted with at tremendous backlash.

An array of Twitter users criticized the blogger for allegedly forgetting what his position was on the critical historical moment.

“I joke that pundits have suffered brain damage,” comedian @Trillburne said, but Aravosis should “see a doctor.”
Trillburne followed up writing a “timeline of Proper and Serious opinions about the Iraq War,” a satirical chronology depicting how the commentariat whitewashed the U.S.’s illegal invasion and occupation of a sovereign country, destroying Iraq’s government, leading to the deaths of at least 1 million people, destabilizing the Middle East and creating a sectarian civil war that gave rise to extremist groups like al-Qaeda and eventually ISIS.

The dirty whore got caught without his clothes and the whole world laughs.

AL BAWABA reports on it and notes:

Aravosis's Twitter followers immediately pounced.

"You were for it. If you were sentient & against it, you'd never forget," wrote one.

"Not to be rude, but, serious question: are you in the wrong business?" wrote another, which apparently angered Aravosis.

The whole world is laughing at him.

That's what happens when you get caught whoring with a politician.

He is now a disgrace.

And he brought it on himself.

Another issue of whoring?

Ben Rhodes may be the Deputy National Security Advisor but no one ever outranks him when it comes to ego, that's always been his problem.

And he's shot off his mouth again, specifically about selling the Iran deal to the American public.

We created an echo chamber. They [the press] were saying things that validated what we had given them to say. [. . .] In the absence of rational discourse, we are going to discourse the [expletive] out of this. We had test drives to know who was going to be able to carry our message effectively, and how to use outside groups like Ploughshares, the Iran Project and whomever else. So we knew the tactics that worked.

He made the remarks to David Samules (THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE -- a supplement in the Sunday paper -- a more long winded version of PARADE).

Kathleen Hennessey (AP) explains, "The White House on Monday worked to contain the damage caused by one of President Barack Obama’s closest aides, who, in a seemingly candid, behind-the-curtain magazine story, ripped the Washington press corps, boasted of creating an 'echo chamber' of supporters to sell the Iran nuclear deal and appeared to dismiss long-time foreign policy hands, including Hillary Clinton, as the Blob."

Thomas E. Ricks (FOREIGN POLICY) writes a stinging rebuke to Rhodes which includes:

Rhodes and others around Obama keep on talking about doing all this novel thinking, playing from a new playbook, bucking the establishment thinking. But if that is the case, why have they given so much foreign policy power to two career hacks who never have had an original thought? I mean, of course, Joe Biden and John Kerry. I guess the answer can only be that those two are puppets, and (as in Biden’s case) are given losing propositions like Iraq to handle.

Fact check: Obama’s hasn’t been an original foreign policy as much as it has been a politicized foreign policy. And this Rhodes guy reminds me of the Kennedy smart guys who helped get us into the Vietnam War. Does he know how awful he sounds? Kind of like McGeorge Bundy meets Lee Atwater.

Senator John McCain also weighed in:

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today released the following statement on the President Obama’s approach to foreign policy as described in a New York Times Magazine piece last week:
“Last week a New York Times Magazine profile of the aspiring fiction writer serving as one of President Obama’s closest aides provided a troubling glimpse of the White House spin machine that has put sustaining 'the narrative' above advancing the national interest. The truth of that narrative is evidently of secondary importance, as the article exposed how the White House manipulated and, in some cases, manufactured facts to sell the reckless Iran nuclear deal to the American people as a prelude to large-scale disengagement from the Middle East.
“Worst of all, the article revealed the stubborn arrogance of a President that refuses to allow reality to interfere with his pre-conceived notions about the world. For seven years, President Obama has been guided by a cheap fatalism about America’s role in the world shrouded in realism. Even as the perils of indecision and inaction grow clearer by the day – Russian and Chinese adventurism, the rise of ISIL, terrorist attacks in Europe and the United States, and hundreds of thousands dead in Syria – the President remains unmoved, his narrative unchanged.

“President Obama has taken great pains to set himself apart from his predecessor. He has succeeded in at least one respect by failing to find the courage to challenge his own assumptions, admit mistakes, and chart a better course. The nation is paying a heavy price for this prideful exercise in legacy-making, but at least the narrative will be consistent.”

Daniel W. Drezner rushes to insist it isn't true -- look at the polling -- Americans increased in opposition to the deal!!! And yet the issue did not have traction!

Drezner writes:

Opponents of the Iran deal massively outspent and out-advertised proponents. Furthermore, contra Samuels, this blitz had an effect; in polling, the Pew Research Center found that there was an appreciable increase in opposition to the deal over the summer. But Pew also found something else: despite the blizzard of advertising and media coverage surrounding the Iran deal, respondents stated that they knew less about the contours of the deal two months after the debate started. Why? Because the issue “had not resonated widely with the public.”

No, that's not what they said and your really a stupid idiot to think you could get away with that lie.

The American people did not know less about it because it "has not resonated:"

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted Sept. 3-7 among 1,004 adults, finds that the contentious debate over the Iran agreement has not resonated widely with the public. In fact, the share saying they have heard either a lot or a little about the agreement has declined from 79% in July to 69% in the new survey. The share saying they have heard “nothing at all” about it has increased nine percentage points, from 21% to 30%.

It did not resonate because the details were not explored.

The "has not resonated" goes to what THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE article exposes: the selling of the deal.

The deal was not properly vetted by the press.

Go back to the archives and you'll see we did not take part in the echo chamber and I even note that friends at State are attempting to get me to come out for it.

I did not come out for it. I did not come out against it. We did not pimp the deal here and anytime any member of Congress had criticism of it and we were notified we ran their critique in full.

I say at one point that I don't have the time to become an expert on the deal.

And I didn't.

Nor did the American public, nor did the White House set out to inform the public.

They sold it as emotional.

They pressured people to go along -- again, I received the same pressure. 'Don't you want peace? Don't you want to stand with history?'

That's how they pressured people. (No, I'm fine standing all alone, thank you very much.)

Then they sold it similarly with all the usual screaming mimis insisting that you went along with it or you were for war.

And back before Hillary was the front runner, no one wanted to be for war.

Barack and company lied to sell the deal. They appealed to emotion.

That's why the polling reflected little knowledge of the deal.

Erik Wemple (WASHINGTON POST) offers his balanced take on the whole thing here.

Iraq War supporter and cheerleader, megaphone for the powerful and eternal drama queen Jeffery Goldberg turns the entire issue into a referendum on himself and votes himself innocent. (Even a jury would, at best, only find him not guilty.)

The issue is an indictment of the press -- Okay, Jeffery, everyone but you -- and the way they bow to an administration.

Iraq was sold to the public not because the US press is Republican or loved Bully Boy Bush or worshiped Hillary Clinton but because the US press caters to the powerful. They cater to Barack because he's in the Oval Office. They pivot from one extreme to the next based on whose in power. And they loathe questioning those in power. They prefer to parrot the official line and, should it backfire, take cover in the 'we were all wrong' argument.

Nothing has changed since 2002. (And it predates the Iraq War but our focus is Iraq.)

On Iraq, Hollie McKay (FOX NEWS) reports:

The government of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north, eager to counter the devastating effects of Islamic State’s religious and ethnic cleansing, is making clear to Jews that they have a home in the ancient Babylonian land where many of their ancestors once lived peacefully. They are even urging thousands of Kurdish Jews living in Israel to come and make their homes in a land that has not always been so hospitable to them.

“Jews would be surprised to find that they are freer and safer here than in certain European capitals,” Sherzad Omer Mamsani, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s first-ever Jewish representative, told FoxNews.com.
On Friday, the KRG officially marked Holocaust Remembrance Day with a first-ever ceremony in its capital, Erbil. The occasion came against the somber backdrop of past suffering as well as the current, U.S.-recognized genocide against Christians, Yazidis and other minorities taking place just 50 miles away in the ISIS stronghold of Mosul.

US Secretary of State John Kerry looks like an idiot -- and it's not just the botox.

Back in March, Kerry groupie Elise Labot joined with Tal Kopan to jot the following for CNN:

Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday that the United States has determined that ISIS' action against the Yazidis and other minority groups in Iraq and Syria constitutes genocide.

"My purpose here today is to assert in my judgment, (ISIS) is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control including Yazidis, Christians and Shiite Muslims," he said, during a news conference at the State Department.

As we've noted for over a year now, the Yazidis are being helped by a right-wing pro-war US p.r. firm that's tasked with selling more war. And Johnny thought he could do the same.

But he forgot he was from Boston.

He forgot his roots.

The Yazidis will not get sympathy from the Christian community in the US. They may get an "oh my" but no one's going to yell for the country to go further into war for the Yazidis.

Christians believe in and worship Jesus Christ -- "Christian" comes from Christ.

The Yazidis worship a fallen angel that is seen -- even in Iraq -- to be the devil, Lucifer.

These are not hidden facts.

You were never going to play this community up successfully to US Christians.

Know who you're selling to.

And all the foolish and elderly fop John Kerry has done is remind the world how the White House has bent over backwards for the Yazidis.

They suffered in 2014.

Iraqi Christians?

They've suffered throughout the Iraq War, been targeted throughout the Iraq War.

Katie Mansfield (UK EXPRESS) speaks with Father Douglas Bazi:

The priest, who was based in Baghdad, was speaking to a church in California when he said: “To be Christian in Iraq, it’s an impossible mission.
“But even so, I’m not actually surprised when they attack my people. I’m surprised how my people are still existing.”
Father Bazi was captured and tortured for nine days by al-Qaeda on his way home from a mass in Iraq in 2006.
He said: “They destroyed my car, they blew up my church on front of me. I got shot by AK-47 in my leg. The bullet is still in my leg. And I had been kidnapped for nine days.

Dale Gavlak (CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICES) explains:

Iraq's Christian population numbered about 1.4 million during the rule of Saddam Hussein, but figures now hover between 260,000 and 300,000 as political instability and persecution by Islamic State militants have drastically reduced their numbers. Other religious minorities, such as the Yezidis, also have been targets of vicious persecution by the extremists.
Half of the remaining Christians in Iraq struggle to remain true to their faith or flee to other countries due to dangers the Islamic State poses, including forced conversion to Islam. Every year, the Christian population decreases by 60,000-100,000, according to the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, in a report issued late last year.

Again, this persecution pre-dates the creation of the Islamic State.

And the US government -- under Bully Boy Bush, under Barack -- refused to call it genocide -- and it clearly was genocide.

The Iraqi Christians have been driven from their homes. Easily half a million are dead or out of the country since 2003.

And foppish John wants you to lament the genocide of the Yazidis . . . oh, and he says it's bad what was done to the Iraqi Christians as well.

I don't think he realizes how unpopular he's become with his former constituents.

Moving over to England, supposedly the Iraq Inquiry will finally publish their report on July 6th.

dr nick ‏@ManMaun 22 minutes ago

Chilcot .... 5 years and what will we get? An unacceptable delay, waste of taxpayer money and the usual establishment whitewash. #WMD #Iraq

‏@ahmedversi

Judge Chilcot's #Iraq Inquiry's 2.6 million-word page report cover's #UK's involvement in 2003 Iraq war  http://tinyurl.com/j7rezdr 

1 like

And we'll close with this Tweet:

‏@KRG_USA

Our deepest condolences to family& friends of Navy SEAL Charles Keating IV, who gave everything fighting IS savagery

43 retweets102 likes

Please note, the KRG government did what John Kerry would not -- note the death of a US service member in Iraq.

iraq

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Bewitched

From last week, that's Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "She Wanted It To Be A Surprise."

Bewitched.

I loved that show.

It was on in syndication when I was a little girl.

I could catch two episodes a morning.

And Elizabeth Montgomery was a woman -- not a toy like Barbara Eden played on that other show.

I liked the cast but I loved Elizabeth Montgomery.

And I really liked this article on 15 things you might not know about Bewitched.

This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Saturday, May 7, 2016. Chaos and violence continue, another US service member has died in Iraq, Shi'ite cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr continues to hide in Tehran, and much more.

Today, the US Defense Dept announced:

Strikes in Iraq
Ground-attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 11 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Al Baghdadi, a strike destroyed an ISIL vehicle and damaged an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Albu Hayat, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle, an ISIL boat, and an ISIL weapons cache.

-- Near Ar Rutbah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.

-- Near Bashir, a strike destroyed an ISIL command and control node.

-- Near Fallujah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Habbaniyah, a strike damaged an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Hit, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions.

-- Near Kisik, a strike destroyed an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Mosul, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit, an ISIL communications facility, destroyed three ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL heavy machine gun and suppressed an ISIL mortar position.
Additionally, on May 5, a strike was erroneously reported. The correct assessment reads:

-- Near Al Baghdadi, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL command and control node, three ISIL rocket rails, and an ISIL bunker.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.

Since August 2014, the US government has bombed Iraq non-stop.

The Islamic State has not been defeated.

But two US service members have died in Iraq this week alone.

Tuesday, US Navy SEAL Charles Keating IV was killed in Iraq.

Friday, CNN reported:

An American service member died of a non-combat injury in Iraq on Friday.

The U.S.-led coalition announced the death but did not immediately name the service member. A Defense Department official said Saturday that the service member is American but did not provide further details.

Non-combat injury.

Of course, the White House spent last week insisting Keating's death wasn't a combat injury.

Regardless, two Americans dead in the never ending war on Iraq because Barack, like Bully Boy Bush before, doesn't have the good sense on how to end a war.

From Tuesday's White House press briefing moderated by spokesperson Josh Earnest:


Q    Sure, thank you. On the death of the U.S. Navy SEAL in Iraq, is there any reaction from the President to that, or expression of condolence? And can you tell us when he was informed about that?

MR. EARNEST: Darlene, I can tell you that the President has been briefed on this incident, and everyone here at the White House, including the First Family, extends our condolences to the family of the servicemember that was killed today in northern Iraq. This individual is the third U.S. servicemember killed in action since the beginning of Operation Inherent Resolve, and this servicemember’s death reminds us of the risks our brave men and women in uniform face every single day.

Reminded of the risks involved?

I don't think so.

I think Barack's been babied and coddled and spared the risks involved.

History will not be so indulgent.

He will be the liar who campaigned for the presidency insisting he would end the Iraq War but did not, in fact, end the Iraq War.

Friday morning, CBS NEWS reported:

Iraqi security forces were enforcing a major security clampdown Friday, bracing for a possible new round of anti-government protests.
Last week, Iraqis angry over corruption and a government they feel fails to protect or represent them stormed the capital's heavily guarded "Green Zone," which houses both Iraq's national government and the U.S. Embassy.
CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata reports that security forces worked overnight to erect blast walls across all the lanes of one of the main bridges leading into the Green Zone, and Iraqi soldiers and police were deployed in the streets, sealing off the sensitive area.

Jeff Schogol (MARINE CORPS TIMES) reports that last week's storming of Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone and the Parliament (within the Green Zone) has  resulted in the US government sending 25 more Marines into Iraq -- these Marines will beef up the security as the US Embassy/Compound in Baghdad.

Clearly, the White House is concerned that the Green Zone will be stormed again and that on a second time the invaders might attempt to storm US property in the Green Zone.

A repeat of the US Embassy falling in Tehran on November 4, 1979.

The issue of the additional US Marines being sent to the Baghdad Embassy was raised in Friday's State Dept pres briefing.

QUESTION: Has the U.S. increased military personnel at the U.S. embassy as a result of security concerns – brought in additional Marines? Can you confirm those reports? And secondly, if this is the case, is this a permanent increase in the number of military personnel who will be there for security reasons or a temporary up-staffing?

MR KIRBY: Well, I think you know we don’t talk about security posture at our embassies, and it’s a dynamic situation. We constantly evaluate our security posture, and, frankly, we routinely and constantly change that posture as appropriate. That is what we expect the good people in Diplomatic Security to do. I won’t talk about it one way or another. I will – I do think it’s important to remind, however, that our embassy in Baghdad continues to operate normally.

QUESTION: John?

QUESTION: Is there – one more – is there ongoing – is there concern in this building concerning the ongoing friction between the Iraqi Government and Muqtada al-Sadr’s followers? I know that you’ve said before that this is sort of inside baseball, an issue that Iraq has to work out, but is there concern that these tensions may be destabilizing to U.S. interests such as the overall fight against the Islamic State?

MR KIRBY: We want, obviously, to see the reforms that Prime Minister Abadi is putting into place – we want to see them succeed. And we know that he knows how important it is for him to continue pursuing these reforms in keeping with Iraq’s constitution. And Iraq is an important partner in the region. They are certainly an important partner in this fight against Daesh. Our support inside the coalition remains and will continue. That support is being done by, with, and through the Abadi government in Baghdad.
But you’re right. Look, these are political challenges that the Iraqi people have to work through and Prime Minister Abadi has to lead them through. And as I said earlier, a few days ago, we’re confident that he can do that and that he’s well aware of the significant challenges he’s facing.

QUESTION: Kirby, can I have a follow-up on that, please?

MR KIRBY: Sure.

QUESTION: Are you concerned, though, about the security around that embassy?

MR KIRBY: We’re concerned about the security of our embassies all over the world, everywhere.

Charlie D'Agata (CBS NEWS) explains of how last week's efforts appeared, "It looked like an uprising."

Better safe than sorry, but, really, "an uprising"?

Moqtada's revealed himself to be a fraud.

He sent his zombies in last week.

Last Saturday, they stormed.

Sunday, they retreated.

As we pointed out Sunday:

The retreat of Moqtada's followers may indicate that Moqtada didn't believe he had the power to keep the protests going until demands were met.

Or they may indicate that he was concerned about the safety of the followers.

But either way, they don't demonstrate an understanding of protests. You don't stage a protest demanding something and then retreat.

Where are Motqada's zombies now?

Better question: Where is the Shi'ite cleric and movement leader?

Loveday Morris (WASHINGTON POST) reports:

The Iraqi rumor mill swirled into action, with some politicians speculating he was summoned by a furious Tehran.
"I think they are angry, maybe they blame him for what happened," Abdul Razzaq said.
Five days later, he has still not returned, and before his departure, he had announced a two-month spiritual retreat. His supporters have remained stoic.

And, in an aside, Morris also revealed who helped Moqtada's supporters breach the Green Zone:

Abadi was already seen as a weak leader, and Sadr's actions have undermined him further, with members of parliament incensed by the breach of their fortified inner sanctum.
As he attempts to regain control, and credibility, he has pledged to prevent another breach and fired the head of Green Zone security, who kissed Sadr's hand as the cleric entered the area in March.

And as Moqtada hides in Tehran, his power in Parliament -- already limited -- shrinks further.

Wael Grace (AL MADA) reports that Nouri al-Maliki and Ibrahim al-Jaafari are leading efforts to isolate Moqtada in the Parliament. Nouri was a two-term prime minister (and forever thug) until the US government ousted him and replaced him with Haider al-Abadi. Ibrahim is also a former prime minister of Iraq -- he was supposed to get a second term in December of 2006 -- the Parliament wanted him, the US government didn't. The two are leading the effort to push Moqtada to the side and you can be sure that effort also includes sidelining and replacing Haider as well.

As the intrigue continues to swirl, Tariq Alhomayed's analysis for ASHARQ AL-AWSAT:

When Mr Haider Al-Abadi became the prime minister of Iraq and vowed to take steps towards reform, it was said at the time that Al-Abadi was planning to revolt against corruption and intended to reform the political system. However, nothing happened.
Today, it is said that Moqtada Al-Sadr aims to abandon sectarianism and fight corruption. Is it possible to believe this even though some chanted against Iran whilst the Green Zone was stormed and parliament was occupied? Of course not, not because it is said that Al-Sadr had flown to Iran, but because of a very simple reason. When Al-Sadr intended to enter the Green Zone to start a sit-in there in March, the head of security of the Green Zone kissed his hand in a scene captured on camera. This move itself is evidence of sectarianism taking root in Iraq, and the lack of value for the state and its prestige, which Al-Sadr now claims to defend by calling for a technocrat government.

Those in service of the US government have repeatedly pimped the lie that Haider was attempting to create a cabinet of techonocrats.

What in Moqtada's history suggests he'd support that?

Nothing.

And nothing in Haider's history suggested it either.

In fact, Haider's refusal to work towards political reconciliation argues that he has no interest in working with Sunnis but every interest in pushing them out of the government, in ending quota systems to ensure that he does not have to work with them.

Amer Araim (EAST BAY TIMES) offers this take on life in Iraq for Sunnis:

The Shiite-controlled government in Baghdad and its militias are also engaged in sectarian cleansing against Sunni Arabs to force them to leave or convert to Shiite, as was done in Iran in the past.
One of the major U.S. policy objectives in Iraq, and the world, is to defeat the terrorist groups al-Qaida and the so-called Islamic State (ISIS). Arab governments and peoples are supporting this objective. However, the Obama administration is not able to reconcile the fight against terrorism with the prevention of ethnic and sectarian conflicts in Iraq and other areas.
The U.S. intervention helped liberate areas controlled by terrorists in Iraq, however, the sectarian and ethnic cleansing against Arab communities that followed is used by terrorist propaganda to convince these communities that no one will protect them.

The Sunni Arab community in Iraq is having quadruple sufferings from the atrocities of ISIS; the Iraqi government and its militias including the support provided by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard; the Kurdish authorities and their militias; and the inability of the U.S. government to find a just and durable solution or to effectively engage the United Nations Security Council to find a solution, notwithstanding the mischievous role played by Russia in the council today.

US Senator Marco Rubio has ended his pursuit of the GOP's presidential nomination. This week, he visited the Middle East, we'll note this on his visit to Iraq:

Iraq

On Tuesday, Rubio met with Council of Representatives Speaker Saleem al-Jabouri to discuss the political situation in Iraq, U.S. security assistance, and Iraqi support to defeat ISIS:

On Tuesday, Rubio met with U.S. Embassy staff in Baghdad, Iraq:

Rubio talking with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Stuart Jones on Tuesday:

Rubio with C-17 flight crew on the ground in Baghdad on Tuesday:

On Wednesday, Rubio met with Kurdistan Region Security Council Chancellor Masrur Barzani:

We'll close with this Tweet about War Hawk Hillary Clinton:

‏@BernieSanders

How can you say you're going to stand up for working people when you’re courting Jeb Bush's right-wing donors?

2,915 retweets4,346 likes

iraq
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